The lion’s den

by Pires, Aldana and Vincenti, Nicolas

The reissue of ‘The Lion King’ as a 3D film, and its subsequent 3D Blu-ray release back in 2011, brought the film back into discussion. It definitely stands as one of the most successful and well-received Disney’s classics of all time: it ranks 2nd in the list of the highest-grossing animated films, and 20th in the list of the highest-grossing films of all time. Moreover, the film has an overall approval rating of 90%, and thus, its re-release was not a surprise.

Its success can be partially justified by the apparent messages to children: on the one hand, the idea of being willing to obey parent’s orders, and on the other hand, the notion of growing up and, as a consequence, of being responsible. But the question is, are these the only messages of the film?

Certainly, there’s something really important to consider that needs to be brought into focus. The Lion King does not only encourage being obedient and assuming responsibilities, but it also stands for the notion of white supremacy and black segregation.

The golden lions from the royal family depict what is good and civilised, while the antagonist, Scar, being a lion from the same family himself, has a darker tone. This representation of evil characters as the ones whose fur colour is non-golden also applies to Scar’s hirelings: the hyenas. The indicated latent fact may look silly and irrelevant, and it may be called an exaggeration, but these little details are by no means innocent and do carry a strong sense of ideology within them.

Undoubtedly, the choice of the cast lacks innocence as well. Whoopi Goldberg and Cheech Marin, two well-known black actors, were chosen to interpret two out of the three hyenas. Jim Cummings completes the trio, and as Goldberg and Marin do, he pitches his voice to portray the way in which the afro-American cultural groups speak. The three of them use the typical vocabulary and pronunciation of the African American vernacular English. Most people would laugh at these impersonations, but taking a deeper view, they only keep on undervaluing the black cultural society.

Actually, if the same characterisation had been imposed to all the members of the cast, there wouldn’t be any problem as the story is set in Africa, but, as far as it can be observed, none of the golden lions speak as the hyenas do.

Apart from their sounds and their previously mentioned dark colour, the feliforms were also fashioned with misshapen bodies and clumsy movements. To make a clear contrast, the amber lions carry an emblematic-shaped body and an elegant demeanor. In this sense, the visual aesthetic is added to the degradation and discrimination of black ethnic groups making them look hideous.

As if this wasn’t enough mistreatment for black cultures, the hyenas, the ones who represent what’s wrong and uncivilised, are out of place. They can not occupy a place in the kingdom, and therefore, they are segregated to the elephant graveyard, where they suffer from hunger and misery. This could be compared to black ethnic communities that live in ghettos located near great cities.

All these offenses cannot be ignored when deciding if it is good to bring back this classic into our lives. ‘The Lion King’ has been good in its time, but nowadays our society is much more conscious as regards tolerance to diverse ethnic groups. The underlying notions of racism in the film give enough reasons to question its revival.